While reading, I was struck by a particular thought. Coelho talks about realizing your Personal Legend.

“… (Personal Legend) ‘It’s what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is. At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives.”

This sounds all well and good. I am certainly a dreamer who wants to realize her Personal Legend. But then he goes on…

“But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their Personal Legend.”

The crystal merchant expresses how he dreams of a dream he knows will never come true but he is okay with it. He wants to go to Mecca but he has never been able to make the trip. “…It’s the thought of Mecca that keeps me alive.” He says. “I’m afraid if my dream is realized, I’ll have no reason to go on living.”

What if I live my whole life without accomplishing my Personal Legend? What if I think I’m headed in the right direction and I’m doing my best at everything I do along the way but I never realize the dream? Or what if I do realize the dream and I don’t feel accomplished? Is dreaming of the dream better than living it, like the crystal merchant says?

This can’t be the right attitude. We can let the “mysterious force” win!

I tend to believe if we are lucky enough to realize one dream, we will find another. No one says we have to stop wanting to accomplish things after having accomplished something else. There is not a limit to a single person’s amount of happiness or success…especially when it comes to one’s Personal Legend.

Our Personal Legends, to me, seem like they would be a process. A sequence of little successes building our ultimate selves. So does this mean we should aim small in the short term and celebrate the small victories? Or do we shoot for the stars?

I think the answer is both.

Even if a person dreams of becoming President or winning a Nobel Prize and never does, they were, hopefully, on a path of their choice. They did what they did with passion and enthusiasm, which in turn was following their legend.

“We all need to be aware of our personal calling. What is a personal calling? It is God’s blessing, it is the path that God chose for you here on Earth. Whenever we do something that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our legend.”

The beauty of our calling or legend is that it can change and grow as we do. Whether you believe in God, the universe, source energy, fate or that just gut feeling inside of you we always have the choice to live as we like.

“It’s this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That’s the world’s greatest lie.”

Do you have a personal calling or legend? Have you realized your dream(s)? I don’t care if you’ve answered yes or no…go on and keeping living it or towards it. Do what makes you come alive!